


Rulebreaker

by StarkWolf



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: And they don't communicate, Brienne is Kind of Way too Stupid, Chill Fest Fic, College AU, Confessions of love, F/M, Features a Kissing Booth Type Scene, Fluffy happy ending, Friends With Benefits, Heavy Use of Canon Instances, Hyle Hunt & Co Try to Bully Brienne, Idiots in Love, Large Group of Friends, Modern AU, Non Linear Timeline, Not too Much Plot At All, Please take my word, Ron gets slapped by Jaime Off Screen, please roll with it, very light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28439286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarkWolf/pseuds/StarkWolf
Summary: Jaime Lannister just can't help break them rules.A mod AU that starts in a college and ends on a wedding featuring a montage of Jaime and Brienne's evolving relationship for years.
Relationships: Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Mentioned Fleetingly Doesn't Feature at All, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 86
Collections: JB Festive Festival Exchange 2020





	Rulebreaker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Virareve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virareve/gifts).



> Dearest Virareve,  
> Apologies for the late submission. The first time I read your prompts, this was the idea that struck me, however, due to lack of focus I could not work on it like I wished to. However, I refused to let it go and stuck to it. And here I am posting it tonight, Unbetaed. :p I really hope you find it palatable.  
> This fic attempts to tick all the boxes of your prompts  
> A. Friends with Benefits  
> 2\. Part of a Large Friends Group  
> 3\. Exes getting back together
> 
> The third one is actually very vague and its presence depends on your interpretation.  
> A special note of gratitude to Slipsthrufingers for arranging this wonderful exchange.
> 
> Hope you like it Virareve, Lots of Love.

**Kings Landing | Winter | 2015**

“So you are saying, if we ever fall out, badly, like tearing each other’s throat apart spitting on each other’s faces badly, I cannot come to Margaery’s wedding?”

“Yes.That’s exactly what I am saying.” Brienne tries to make him understand, they are too deep into the waters now for her to abandon this silly debate.

“LOL. Yeah. Good luck with that.” Jaime chuckles.

“What! Jaime no! It’s not fair, I am not coming to Tyrion’s wedding. And I am _much, much_ better friends with Tyrion than you are with Marg!”

“You are not coming to Tyrion’s hypothetical wedding as a consequence to our hypothetical fall out, which will never happen? How heartbreaking. ”

“It’s good to be prepared… in these situations…”

“What situations exactly Tarth?” his hand slides over her legs.

“Just.” She shifts, annoyed, blushing, cheeks warm.

“Those.. Those are the rules.” She says again, steering both of them back into the topic.

“Okay ma’am” he mock salutes her, “As you well know, I have never broken one in my life.”, he says and laughs.

 _Insufferable_ , she thinks as she moves to straddle him.

Jaime reaches out to the coffee table beside her bed, “Also, that’s just presumptuous bullshit, what you said. Marg is the best Secret Santa ever. I absolutely _adore_ her since Christmas eve.”

She laughs then.

**Highgarden |Summer | 2020**

Margaery wants her in a dress.

Brienne knows Marg would never push her to do anything she doesn’t want to do, and if she chooses to wear the thrice damned racer back vest and her worn and torn journo khaki pants to the wedding, she would set her lips in a thin, pressed smile, nod her head, her eyes would still twinkle as if she knows some secret and she would say, “You look good, Bri.”

And she knows it is her dear friend’s vexing congeniality that would eventually make her give up on these futile attempts and she would herself, willingly get into the dress she has picked out for her. So she cuts to the chase, and wears the blue chiffon dress, tailored, she would admit, tailored to flatter her not so impressive tall, broad form, and even dabs on her most daring cherry red lipstick in the shade Bombshell to go with it, puts on some mascara and make way for the picturesque Valley of Sweetvines to attend the Wedding.

She doesn’t like driving in a dress but it is hardly five minutes from the hotel. As she enters the parking arena, a red Valyrian pulls short of her and she closes her eyes.

_Of fucking course._

……

**Kings Landing | Spring l 2012**

The Red Valyrian cuts her right across the lane, just as she was about to pull up in her standard spot and promptly, without any notice, gears backwards and collides with her old Steelstreet.

She huffs out of the car, ready to wage a war.

A breathtakingly, feet sweeping, otherworldly beautiful guy steps out of the car in a red polo neck GAP t-shirt and faded jeans, takes off his shades and gives her a thorough once over. 

For a moment she is stunned into stillness with his beauty. But it only lasts a moment as condescending displeasure overcomes his face.

_How fucking dare he!_

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asks without any preamble. 

"Nothing, as you can well see.” He gestures at himself, “ Sorry can't say the same for you."

"Excuse me, I don't think you should drive if you can't." 

"I was driving pretty well, what business does that oxcart have being in middle of the road anyway?" 

"Mr. Whatever I don't give a Fuck, Your car overtook mine from the wrong lane"

"Yeah..can't say I regret. Sorry not sorry. " 

"What? Don't you know road rules at all?"

"Oh. Rules! How interesting!"

"Listen. Either you will apologise right now or…?"

"Or what?"

"Or I will report to the police"

"Right. Go ahead. Do it. And when they don't come to your aid because my very rich father have them in his pockets, you check your car and get back to me if there are any damages, _recent_ damages." He smirks, takes out a paper pad out of his bag, scrawls something with effort, grabs her hands and shoves is into it and saunters away merrily. 

Brienne stares at his retreating form, infuriated.

It is much later when she unfolds the piece of paper and she sees his childish scrawl, "987645433 , Jaime Lannister, _Rulebreaker_ " 

**Highgarden l Present Day**

Brienne doesn't like reunions. They are messy and so full of longing and they leave her wondering about her life choices. When Catelyn kisses her forehead, or Sansa links her arms with Brienne's, or when Arya’s eternally murderous face breaks into a genuine, unmasked grin or when Robb almost tackles her to the ground, she almost, almost wonders if she had been right to forsake all of this for two long years, this familiarity for a peace that still remained elusive to her. 

"Loras!!!", Renly's excited voice rings across the space, "Loras, look who has chosen to grace us with their grand presence on this occasion!!" He exclaims as he walks up to her and envelopes her in a bear hug that is utterly out of the place at a solemn, aesthetic wedding and suddenly her vision is cloudy. 

Memories flood her eyes. Of an awkward girl of 19, getting bullied into a corner at the KLU orientation dance while a handsome boy with shining blue eyes comes to her rescue, saving her from embarrassment and humiliation.

"Surprise, surprise. I am not sure if I am supposed to be glad to finally see you after two long years or should I take offense?" a deep voice interrupts her thought.

"I am sorry" Brienne mumbles to Tyrion. 

_I was just following the rules._ She doesn't say but she has an inkling Tyrion knows about it, so they both let it pass as he raises his wine glass in a mock toast. 

Brienne will not begrudge him his stiff cordiality, they have been great friends, and if he chooses to take her absence from his wedding as a slight, she would grant it to him. 

"Your wife..." She manages to ask. 

"Very hot, very awesome and very much pregnant, back home" 

"Oh. Tyrion! Congratulations"

" As unbelievable it is, yes" 

The rest of the conversation flows smoothly enough. Everyone joins in.

It is not until a bit later, while she is lost in animated chatter with long lost friends, warmth and wistfulness flooding her chest till the thought crosses her mind again, as someone hands her a flute of champagne, and clinks against her glass with another.

She looks up to see him staring at her, with those luminous green eyes, if he was irresistible two years back, he is just devastating now with the stubble peppering his sharp jaw and the tailored red suit that fits him like a second skin.

The jaw tightens as he says “Well met.” And then he saunters across the arena to the bar once again.

Brienne thinks yes, she hates reunions.

…..

**The Riverlands Hostel | 2013**

Someone is knocking on her door at this ungodly hour.

“Brienne..” Jaime’s voice, urgent and pressed flows in through the door.

Panicked for a second, she gets up and opens the door, and Jaime barges in and closes it behind himself.

“What Jaime, You are not supposed to be here, we can be…”

“I am also _not_ supposed to _not_ have cellphone signal in my room.” He flashes her a smile and holds up his phone, “Go to sleep Tarth, we need you in form tomorrow, I just need to talk to… to talk for a few minutes”

Something flares inside Brienne.

“And how might I do that if you keep on prattling about on your phone with your… with her?”

“I will be in the washroom” he says and promptly ducks himself through the door before she could reprimand him.

Infuriating, absurd guy, Brienne thinks as she goes back to bed.

Why does she keep entertaining him?

 _Wrong question, Tarth_ , Jaime’s voice answers in her head, she can hear the innuendo filling chuckle that is bubbling up his throat and she closes her eyes against the answer, irritated.

But the truth is Jaime has genuinely given in real efforts to be her friends, even though he must not know what it takes to be one given the efforts oscillate between bickering endlessly, admitting begrudging respect for her form on field and confessing forbidden secrets about illicit affairs with first cousins in the locker room long after practice.

She tosses on the bed.

Jaime’s words don’t carry through the door of the washroom, but his deep voice does, muffled soothing, and she falls asleep to the sound.

When she wakes, he has pushed her almost off from her bed of this modest single occupancy hostel room and is sleeping peacefully with his back to her, the first rays of sun reflecting over his perfect form.

Brienne gets up with a jerk and shoves him on his shoulders.

“Jaime!!!” she hisses.

  
He makes a disgruntled, almost endearing sound as he stirs from his sleep.

“Jaime what the hell” she hisses again and he wakes up, eyes groggy.

“You were sleeping” he says, voice hoarse from sleep, as if it suffices as an explanation.

“Then you should have woken me. Jaime, this is entirely improper and against the rules, if Coach Stark finds out we can be banned from the game!”

“Gods Tarth, you are a nightmare” he says as he languidly stretches and gets up from the bed, slow.

“As are you!” she snaps at him.

“ _No, I am your best kiss ever.”_ He says and winks at her, bed head tousled and golden and then makes a dash for the door, leaving her angry and tongue tied, as always.

**Kings Landing | Winter | 2013**

There’s a knock on her door at an ungodly hour.

Jaime Lannister stands outside, eyes red, drunk she presumes, his backpack hanging loosely off one shoulder, his right hand patched up, looking like he might topple over any moment.

She was sure she left him at a much better condition in the morning when he was discharged, as he hopped into his family car.

“Hi, Can I… Can I stay the night?” his voice wavers.

Brienne ushers him inside without a word.

**Highgarden | Present Day**

"Gods. I am freaking out. Gods.." Margaery's voice is at a strange place between a shriek and a squeal. 

"No ring no wedding? Cool" Arya chuckles darkly. 

"Arya!" Sansa reprimands. 

"Marg, you are doing fine, it will be fine. Loras has left it at the hotel right. It's a 5 minute drive. I will fetch Bran or Rickon" , Sansa dons her invisible mother hen cloak immaculately in a second.

"Really? Bran and Rickon? Umm. I don't think it's legal for teenagers to drive in this part of the world. The North is definitely.... Tougher" Tyrion tells Sansa. 

"Then you go" Sansa snipes.

"It's also illegal to drive drunk" he raises his flute in a toast.

"URGH" Sansa groans. 

All of them look at Loras on cue at that. It's a strange sight. Loras crying uncontrollably in Renly's arms, lamenting this huge mistake to the extent even the bride can't bother while Renly rubs smooth circles on his back. 

"I will go" she and Jaime say together and are forced to share an awkward look which thankfully no one else notices. Or so she hopes. 

"Great. Yes. That makes sense. Two people will do better than one!" Sansa exclaims. 

"Oh My God, you guys..." Margaery starts and Jaime jumps backwards. 

"Jeez Tyrell spare me the theatrics. Smack your useless pretty brother on the face on my behalf and consider the scores settled, we need they key to his room, Tarth you coming? We are apparently on a bit of a schedule." Jaime says in one breath and starts walking away towards his car without even waiting for her answer nonchalantly. 

It's not like Brienne can blame anyone else for the situation except her thrice damned destiny, but that hardly means she doesn't want to. 

She tries to approach Renly and Loras cautiously, wondering how exactly she will extract herself from that drama fast enough to dash to the hotel, retrieve the ring and come back in time but Arya interrupts her and hands over the keys quietly to her. Had she not known Arya from when she was four, she would have asked that question about how she got them in the first place . She follows Jaime instead.

**Kings Landing 2014 l Christmas Eve**

Margaery looks way too self satisfied and that doesn't bode well for Brienne, at all.

"Open it Brienne!" Sansa says cheerfully.

Loras and Renly snicker amongst themselves. Robb looks enamored at Margaery. 

Sometimes she wanders how this strange group of people even got together.

Sansa urges her to go for it once again.

She entirely doesn't understand the conundrum that comes with having Margaery Tyrell as your Secret Santa. The box could contain anything that range from explosives to tickets to Summer Isles. The possibilities are unsettling. 

She unwraps the blush coloured wrapping paper gingerly, taking time. It's a hard and sturdy box underneath with the words MAGIC WAND AF427 written in big, block letters across it. 

She looks up at Margaery in shock while Marg has a smug grin plastered to her face.

Jaime chokes on the damn fruit punch. 

**Kings Landing |Summer | 2013**

She realises it's a cruel trick when she hears the flash of stage lights. 

It’s her fault really, she should have suspected foul when Hyle put the blindfold on her, but he had been so perfectly charming to her all week, she thought…

"There's a pot for anyone who manages to kiss Brienne the Beauty", Edmund Ambrose announces she remembers how satisfying it was to beat them all to dust and qualify for the university Soccer team and replacing them.

This is a revenge meticulously planned, her punishment for being a woman and being better than them in a sport.

I cannot leave, she tells herself repeatedly like a mantra.

She will leave the stage unkissed, but she will not flee without fighting. Tears threaten to spill from her eyes, shame courses through her veins, she thinks she would kill Hyle once she spots him again. 

"Gods, I would rather die than kiss her" Ron Connington's smarmy, cruel voice echoes in the arena.

Murmurs, cackles burst across the audience.

"That's true. You would certainly be dead if you try. You are certainly _don't_ have the balls to kiss a woman who is powerful enough to beat you to a pulp. " a lethal, rich, deep voice from the audience resonates across the space. 

Before she knows, she can hear the shuffle of feet towards her someone. Brienne is too confused and embarrassed to feel anything else anyway. But then the voice asks, "Hey, Tarth, Can I kiss you?" And she thinks she knows the voice, but no one has ever spoken as gently to her in her tenure in the University except her friends, who have all gone home for the Break and Selwyn Tarth has raised no quitters so she nods her head in affirmative. 

"Good" the voice says, soft again, before placing his lips to her, a sweet, chaste peck that lasts a second, but something clicks, a spark flies, electricity rushes through her body. She places her arms on the shoulders, feels muscles flexing under what she guesses is a form fitting, expensive T-shirt and she opens her mouth against her mysterious knight in shining armour who draws her closer and her brains diffuses at the sensation of it altogether, her blood boils and she feels on fire as their lips devour each other and tongues are entwined on a fight. It lasts too long, it lasts too little. Fireworks fly. 

She unfastens her blindfold in a hurry, and Jaime Lannister stares at her, mirroring her own incredulous expressions. 

She leaves the stage in a hurry even as the audience breaks into a cheer.

Later into the night, as the entire population sways to erratic rhythms of the college band, she finds him sulking in a corner, swiping desperately on his cell, fingers working in a frenzy.

"Thank you" she says quietly, walking up to him. 

He looks at her, surprised at her voice, stares into her eyes, gulps.

Silence is not Jaime Lannister's ally. This much she knows from their sparse encounters in the practice grounds since their unfortunate first meeting. 

"It was great actually, I have never been..." She blurts out to fill the awkward silence and realises the blasphemy of the statement in horror. 

A typical, smug, cavalier grin breaks into his absurdly pretty face. 

"You liked it Tarth?" He teases. She should have felt uncomfortable at his lewd and suggestive tone, but she didn’t.

"Yeah. Whatever" she tries to shrug it off matter of factly, failing miserably and starts to walk away.

“They are little shits. You are better than the whole lot of them. It’s just misogyny? Dick problem? Just. Ignore them.” He calls out to her. She halts and turns back.

“I… Hyle… Never mind.” She fumbles.

“Yeah, never mind.” He speaks, and looks distractedly at his phone. Then he looks up again, hesitant.

"So.... Friends?" He asks her, and this time she spots the genuine hope in his eyes. 

She nods, not knowing exactly what that would entail.

It’s the least she could do for him then, an act of gratitude.

**Road to the Hotel l Present**

"So...how was, whatever hellhole you ran away to?" Jaime asks a minute into the drive.

Silence is not Jaime Lannister’s ally. 

"Volantis. Meereen. Qarth. Work" she tries to keep it light, businesslike.

"Daenerys Targaryen?" 

"Yes"

"Super secret investigative journalism? " 

"Hmm."

"I see."

The rest of the drive passes, surprisingly, in silence.

**Kings Landing | Winter | 2013**

She stares at the pristine white hospital wall, unable to concentrate on her book anymore. 

Jaime stirs in his bed, in a tangle of wires, needles, bandages and machines. 

She thinks she needs some sleep. So does Tyrion.

His only family who has deemed his accident worthy enough for a visit. 

She tries not to hate Cersei on behalf of her best friend and fails. 

Well, they will both get some sleep once Jaime wakes up.

**Kings Landing | Fall | 2014**

She can recognize the muffled voice of Sia from the stereo at the party coming in through the door of the washroom.

 _Cheap Thrills. Indeed._ She thinks as Jaime closes his mouth on the nape of her neck and she tightens her hold on him as a shiver goes down her.

The mirror behind them rattles.

This is supposed to be the last time.

But so was the last one. And the last to last. And the last to last to last, which was the first.

It was a freight train she couldn’t stop once she started, _she,_ _the responsible, sensible, thoughtful one_

 _Lawful Good_.

This can’t go on, her brain speaks to her in an apprehending manner.

It was the damn accident, she guesses, the damn accident when Jaime almost lost his hand trying to shield her, and then how he knocked on her door at the middle of the night for a stayover after a terrible fight with his family the very day he got discharged from the hospital, and how he never left.

It’s how he has completely overtaken her apartment, her life, how he knows she would need hot chocolate specifically during her periods and foot rubs just a day before it, how warm she likes her bath water and how hot she likes her coffee with how much or how less sugar. It’s how he hugs her after she facetimes her Dad, missing him particularly intensely during a 10-minute stretch and how he absolutely doesn’t speak during Black Mirror.

It’s how they have fallen into bed with each other every night since last Wednesday.

“BFWMBB” Jaime had said, Friday morning, “Best Friends With Mind Blowing Benefits” and though she had let it pass in the heat of the hour, completely convinced of herself that this was the last time, she knows now, as Jaime’s hand finds her clit in the Boy’s hostels half lit, dingy washroom, that they have to talk and come up with a set of rules that neither interferes with the friendship, nor _this, whatever amazing thing this is._

She apologizes to her younger self profusely, who until very recently thought sex was overrated.

There has never been anything more underrated than sex with Jaime Lannister.

_Baby, I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight_

_(I love cheap thrills)_

Sia keeps singing.

……

**Kings Landing | Fall | 2014**

“ _Absolutely not!!! I am born to be the little spoon. Fuck your rules. No cuddling is not a rule, it’s just the sadism of denying yourself the good things in life, which I strictly don’t condone!”_ Jaime says in a huff and tucks himself against her promptly.

The heat of his body is pretty irresistible, and besides, what is one more little transgression? Brienne thinks as she drapes her arms around him in her post orgasmic bliss.

**Kings Landing | Fall | 2014**

Tyrion comes to visit Jaime.

He steps into the apartment merrily but stops dead in his tracks after three steps, he sniffs the space around like a Hound, looks between the two of them, comes towards Brienne , takes her hand and drops it abruptly and steps back.

“You are having sex with each other!” he points a finger at them accusingly.

They all stare at each other slack jawed.

The rule of not involving your other friends and relatives in your FwB arrangement dies a tragic death at Tyrion’s hands.

**Kings Landing | Fall | 2015**

She knocks the door of their apartment, with shaking hands, clutching the letter with another.

“And?” Jaime asks, he doesn’t even move to let her in.

“I got it. I got through… The program starts this Winter… Jaime” her voice raises an octave with each word and Jaime’s beautiful face breaks into a beaming smile and she jumps, jubilant and emotional right into his arms, entirely unmindful of her bulk, throwing him off balance.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry” she says as she scrambles to get down.

Jaime doesn’t release her.Only holds her tighter.

“I am strong enough, Tarth” he growls and carries her all the way to the bedroom engaging in some weird form of wrestling, her struggling to get out of his hold, and him clutching on to her desperately.

“Off to bed with WBCs star investigative journalist.” He says and pulls her in for a searing kiss.

Brienne is too excited, and Jaime is too eager, it doesn’t cross her mind that how winter is just three months away.

**Kings Landing | Winter | 2015**

It’s an early, early morning flight, as Jaime calls it. It’s still dark outside, dark and frigid.

They lean against the pillar below the Departure signage.

Brienne obsessively goes through her particulars again.

“Hey” Jaime puts his right hand on hers, “It’s fine.”

She feels the ridges of his wounded palm against the back of her hand and closes her eyes at the memory. It seems like a lifetime ago.

_It’s too late. It’s over too soon._

Her mind whispers. She turns towards him, ignores whatever her heart tries to say to her.

There is no refuge in whatever thoughts stream through her. Jaime is her best friend.

She knows the rules.

She made them.

“Call me when you reach” Jaime speaks to her again through the haze of her thoughts.

She jerks her head in affirmative, tears threaten to spill through her eyes.

“Don’t, Brienne…” Jaime says warningly.

She pulls him in for a hug.

“I will miss you.” She says into the crook of his neck.

He holds her closer, tighter.

“Don’t die on me Tarth. Break a leg. You are going to rock it.” He says the words like he believes them, believes in her, so consummately.

They don’t know, like their first time, who moves first.

But they are kissing each other, it has the vibes of their first kiss in the Kissing booth, all adrenaline and mystery, a step into the unknown.

 _“It has been..”_ She starts and halts.

“It will always be.” Something shines in his eyes.

“You, take care.” She says and hugs him again, this time friendly, platonic, too afraid.

“You too.” He replies.

“Bye Jaime”

“Bye Brienne”

…..

**Casterly | July | 2017**

He smells of flowery perfume, and not his own cologne.

Brienne grits her teeth despite herself.

Rules dictated that jealousy is strictly off limits for Friends with Benefits.

“So, how’s she?” she asks despite herself.

The rain makes a steady tapping sound against the dashboard of his car.

The windshield wipers go swish, swish, swish.

“Who?” Jaime asks casually, making a great show to sort through their coffee order, figuring out which belongs to whom.

He is going to make her say it.

“Cersei”

“Same. Old. “ he smirks, “Why?” he hands her the coffee.

“Nothing.” She says as she sips it, he remembers the exact specifications, every time, even though they are meeting after almost nine months.

His eyes are on her as he sips into his own.

The sound of the rain is almost a steady background score. The wipers go swish, swish, swish.

“You do know, that we broke up, the day I turned up at your apartment and…”

“Yes I know. Just curious.” She cuts him off promptly; she loses it entirely once Jaime starts these explanations as if he owes them to her.

It’s a dangerous game.

She could spot the blurred lights in the distance, red, green, blue, even though their car is parked in a relatively secluded corner.

She thinks the wind picks up, a chill goes down her spine, and suddenly Jaime’s hand is warm on the nape of her neck, caressing her shoulder, going down, down, down.

She sighs and leans into him.

**Winterfell | Spring 2018**

Brienne almost, almost loses her mind when she spots Jaime gathered around the fire at Winterfell's courtyard, where the merrymaking of the Northern Independence Celebration is going on in full swing.

She only alerted her creepy editor in chief that she wants to cover the Grand Northern Conspiracy story because it has been a long time she has visited Winterfell, and it sounded a good enough excuse for a reunion, not to mention that the history of the Northern Independence did make for quite a riveting tale, something that impressed even Baelish. There were no other interesting stories to cover anyway, except for conjectures about Daenerys Targaryen coming from Essos, and Brienne was really looking forward to seeing the Starks again. She did manage to catch up with Renly once at Storm lands, during her yearly visit to Tarth, back to her Father. And well, of course, when she has gone to Kings Landing the first time, back in 2016, she has caught up with Marg. 

Her thoughts meander to how overwhelming it was to see Jaime after so long for the first time, in Kings Landing. Even though very little had changed, and they managed to remain in constant contact, there has been an unknown tension in the air, the first time she has been back. He came to the Airport all dressed up in a suit from Casterly and drove them to their favourite cafe, they hung out with Marg and then, then, Jaime had taken her back to their apartment and their bed and she has understood that even though they strictly shouldn't be resuming their arrangement, she did in fact hope Jaime's reputation would precede him and he would unmindfully break another rule, even though she knew it would only complicate things for her. 

She has known it to be something much larger than what it seemed to be, back when she was leaving Kings Landing, the desperation with which she had rode him the night before, but the months away from him, the longing that threatened to tear her apart, or the way her heart sped up everytime a notification popped up on her phone, or just Jaime's relentless insistence to not let distance come in between their friendship, it made her realise the beast that has consumed her entire existence was a four lettered word.

She would have been happy if it had just been the sex. That she could have gotten over.

It wasn't the sex, as awesome as it was. What it was, was the man. 

The infuriating man who had texted her before the flight to Winterfell

 _Great. Have fun with the dour Starks_ and has given her no inclination, whatsoever, that he would be here and is right now standing across from her.

Brienne feels her knees wobble as he walks up to her. 

....

Jaime has been acting awkward. She doesn't know whether it's just Winterfell and the history of bad blood between his family and the Starks, but Ned and Catelyn are known for their hosting skills and Jaime loves the girls, even though he is kind of frenemies with Robb.

His thoughts have been elsewhere, she thinks, he has never been as gentlemanly with her ever. 

When he came up to her room last night, he has even seemed shy, tentative. And there was something languorous, slow about the way he touched her. 

He hasn't teased her, even for once. That reeked of trouble in Jaime Lannister Universe.

The thoughts occupy her as well, while she gets dressed, Jaime is in the shower and this motel in Wintertown has damn good room service. She is thinking about what excuses she will have to make to Catelyn about why she had to stay the night out in spite of the perfect accommodation allotted to her inside Winterfell, when she hears a knock. 

It must be the food. She is short of cash, she remembers, so she searches for Jaime's wallet inside his coat pocket and out falls a small velvet box, a jewellery…more specifically ring box.

Brienne stills, picks it up with shaky hands, and opens it. A beautiful sapphire ring, surrounded by diamonds stares back at her. A lavish extravaganza that can only be afforded by an extravagant Lannister. Her heart stops. Jaime hasn't told her....

She remembers now, sees the shyness and the hesitancy for what it is. His incapability of confessing to her that he has, infact, met someone else, and is planning to propose.

No. They have had clear agreements regarding this. In fact, Jaime on his part has repeatedly coaxed her through the years on whether she is going out with someone or not. This is a breach of faith even Jaime wouldn't have made.

But maybe he hasn't, maybe that's what he wanted to tell her, yesterday, before she straddled him in the haze of lust. Jaime loves her as a friend, and they have been doing this for so long, he must have found it hard to refuse, when it was so easy to give in to habit, when it's a simple truth Jaime had made clear to her at every occasion, she turns him on. Habit, lust and a bone-deep friendship, who could refuse?

God knows Brienne couldn't. 

Maybe he would tell her now. Once he gets back from the shower.

 _One last time._ It has truly been. And she didn't even realise it...

The knock on the door intensifies. Brienne closes the box with a pop sound, and gingerly places it back and takes out his wallet. 

How much time do they have? Is it going to be the last time she's taking out her wallet? Or sharing breakfast?

She blinks back the tears. She is far too composed and calm for something that has shaken her entirely. 

She pays the boy for room service. Comes back. Waits. 

The washroom door clicks. Jaime comes clad in nothing but a towel, precariously low, dripping wet, smelling of soap and steam, water droplets glisten across his chest, biceps, face, hangs by the thread of his longish hair. He moves the hair back to look at her and halts

"What's wrong?"

_Everything._

"I have to leave, now, something urgent came up." Her voice doesn't falter.

Jaime stops dead. 

"You are on a holid..."

"I am not now. Just, tell Sansa to send my luggage over. It's very urgent. I have to go. " She scrambles up and dresses in record time. 

Jaime's hand comes up to her forearm. He could knock her over with a feather now. 

"Brienne..."

"Yes?" She moves out of his grasp. 

"I... Nothing. Let me get dressed, I can drop you to ..."

"No need." She cuts him off. "Just, make the Starks understand, please."

She says and leaves the apartment, taking rapid strides towards the exit of the inn. 

It is not until the tears freezes on her cheeks on the cab that she realises that she didn't even know it was the last time she was kissing him, when she kissed him the last time. 

.....

**Tarth | Winter | 2018**

He has only sent her one text with one word since the day. 

Just one. 

"Coward" 

She has gulped the insult away, she knew Jaime would have eventually found out that she had stumbled upon the ring when he realises his wallet was on the desk, when it should have been in his coat pocket. 

Besides, it wasn't untrue. 

.....

**Riverlands | Fall | 2019**

She is in a meeting when her phone begins to go mad with vibrations. 

Margaery : 13 New Messages

Sansa: 18 New Messages

Renly: 7 New Messages

Loras: 7 New Messages

Arya: 1 New message

Robb: 5 New messages

Tyrion: 24 New Messages

Jaime: 2 New Messages

_Jaime: My little cunt of a brother is getting married defying all odds. Wud mean a lot 2 him if u turn up._

He has attached a picture with it, Tyrion & a beautiful raven haired woman at Mc Donalds, Tyrion biting his fiancee's finger instead of the droolworthy burger placed in front of him while the girl is holding the back of her hand towards the camera, all smiles and pretty teeth. 

The ring is ruby, not sapphire. 

....

**Tarth l Winter | 2019**

_Marg: Bri, there's another wedding coming up, I thought I should tell you before anyone else._

Here it is, Brienne thinks and takes a deep breath, another notification pops up.

Brienne turns the phone over. 

She had not sought it out on her own, Jaime getting married would be, by all means, a breaking news, and the chattering wouldn't stop to spare her feelings, given nobody but Tyrion knew about their arrangement, and even he has done the unthinkable, kept it to himself and never really gotten into it except sarcastic, back handed comments once or twice in Kings Landing. 

She wonders what consequences Jaime had threatened his brother with, for him to stop meddling in something as scandalous therefore, irresistible to Tyrion as their scene. 

_Rip the band aid off._

A worthy life lesson from a sitcom. 

She turns the phone over, opens the text. 

_Marg:_ _ROBB PROPOSED!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!! Summer. Highgarden. See. YOU. There. Call me when you are free. ........_

**Highgarden | Renly & Loras’ Suite | Present Day**

The door unlocks smoothly and Brienne goes straight towards the dresser. She opens one drawer. It's empty. Opens the next. 

There lies the black velvet box. She opens it for a check. The ring is inside.

Brienne breathes a sigh of relief. 

"Found it!" She turns towards Jaime, holding the box up, moving it from side to side. 

Jaime pushes himself back against the door, arms crossed across his chest. 

"Yeah. You _are_ very good at finding them, after all." He says and flashes her a forced smile that doesn't reach his eyes. 

Brienne looks on alarmed. 

"I... I... Don't know what you mean. Let's go."

"Why? What's the hurry Tarth? _Urgent work_?" He drawls. 

"There's a wedding Jaime. We don't have time for this." Brienne feels herself wavering.

"We do have about... 27 minutes. We will reach with 15 minutes to spare in that case. Now..."

"It's just. It's not a joke Jaime! It's someone's wedding, two of my best friend's wedding in fact, and I really don't have time for this drama anymore really when we both know what it is. Just another instance of your incredible selfishness of seizing every fucking moment and making it about yourself." Brienne loses her temper, it’s too much, she has had too much champagne.

"My selfishness? MY SELFISHNESS? Damn you Brienne, you are the one to talk when you fucking left me stranded in Winterfell heartbroken, no matter your mind boggling, toxic need of constantly denying yourself everything, you didn't even fucking care to ask for _once_ how I was coping, and you have called me your best friend for five damn years!!!" He roars.

"You were coping? And what exactly you were coping with?”

 _The wedding that didn’t happen to whichever pretty girl captured his mind,_ her brain says.

It eggs her on further, she continues,

“And Best Friend? Really??? What kind of Best Friend forgets to tell their Best Friend that they are about to fucking propose to someone else and sleeps with them regardless, Jaime?"

"WHAT?”

"Just, just fuck this" she huffs out a breath.

"No no no no no. What did you say?"

" You heard what I said. You heard it well..."

"Brienne Tarth" he fumbles in his coat pocket, takes out that damn ring box, and opens it as Brienne's breath hitches in her throat. 

"Look at it. _Please_. And just tell your damn brain cells to do their job _for once_."

"Enough Jaime" she hates that she sounds so angry and pleading.

"You.Thought.This. Ring. Was. For. _Someone. Else_."

His words don’t make any sense.

"What?"

"You idiotic, stupid, fool thought that I would travel fucking all the way to North to bloody Winterfell at a moment's notice to sleep with you before I propose _someone else_ with this ring, this Sapphire ring, which I have traveled all through Westeros to get, just so, it's colour could match your eyes perfectly?"

"WHAT?” Brienne's brain short circuits. 

"How could you even? BRIENNE! This is un fucking believable!!!!"

The room is cursedly quiet after that.

It takes Brienne a good ten minutes to gather her thoughts, she fails at it though, her mind is on the edge. 

"Jaime. I broke a rule." She confesses quietly into the room, she doesn’t know what is happening, only that if she doesn’t say it now, she won’t be able to bear it any longer.

"Gods. Brienne. Damn your bloody rules to the seven hells... This is not the time..."

"No. You don't understand. I broke _the_ rule. I have been in love with you since, I don't know since when...I..."

Jaime closes the distance between them in three strides, pulls her into his arms, and kisses her almost senseless. 

Brienne hasn't even processed everything that just transpired.

"You stupid cow headed woman" he puts his forehead against her, " _Someone else?_ You have sat at my bedside for 72 hours without sleep after my accident, taken care of me relentlessly when I turned up unannounced at your door after my spat with Cersei, you have let me kiss you the first time and so many times after that, you have let me be the only man to take you to bed once and every time since then, you have lived with me, you have made me feel alive and safe and loved, truly loved, called me your best friend like you meant it, you have let me see you grow to be this magnificent, truly amazing woman that you are, alone in the world fighting all the injustice like a damn superhero. You thought someone else ever stood a chance before you? You taught me how to live and love and laugh Brienne, how could you even think that _someone, anyone_ , could beat _that_?" He nudges her nose with his, and her feelings overwhelm her completely and she clutches him to her chest as she gives in to her tears. 

" _I love you. I love you so much. I missed you so much Jaime."_ she mumbles weepily into his shoulder, letting the dam inside her break.

"I love you. You don't know how I have survived these years. Post apocalyptic Jaime, Tyrion tagged me."

Brienne chuckles through her tears.

"Now if you would fucking finally take the ring I bought for _someone else_ " , Jaime releases her and goes to bend his one knee when Brienne shrieks. 

"Jaime, what no, we are at Marg and Robb's wedding. We can't. It's their day. That would be so mean." 

"Are you kidding me? What new rule is this?"

"That’s just stop being an asshole rule. You won't know her." She chides him. 

"Fine. Tomorrow." He concedes. 

It's not yet past midnight when he slides the ring into her finger under the pretense of holding hands. 

Thankfully, the party is over by then and the newlyweds have departed to their suite rooms. The rest of the group is scattered drunk somewhere, distracted and mauldlin in what Sansa calls, "Post Best Friend's Wedding Meltdown." She knows exactly what that means. Only that she won't feel it tonight. She will tell them tomorrow. For now, she only glares at Jaime.

"What?" He shrugs and chuckles, and steals a kiss on her cheek, "Don't you know sweetheart? The only rule I follow is the one that says you have to break them all." 

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The Fic is Unbetae'd. All mistakes are mine.  
> 2\. English is not my first language.  
> 3\. A lot of behind the actions stuff takes place here. And there were at least three different endings in my head. Do feel free to prompt me if it interests you.  
> 4\. HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE!!!!


End file.
